Raising the level: Orangutans solve the floating peanut task without visual 
feedback

Sebastián-Enesco, Carla; Amezcua-Valmala, Nerea; Colmenares, Fernando; Mendes, Natacha; Call, Josep

doi:10.1007/s10329-021-00952-4

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Raising the level: Orangutans solve the floating peanut task without visual feedback

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Mendes, Natacha
International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Sebastián-Enesco, C., Amezcua-Valmala, N., Colmenares, F., Mendes, N., & Call, J. (2022). Raising the level: Orangutans solve the floating peanut task without visual feedback. Primates, 63(1), 33-39. doi:10.1007/s10329-021-00952-4.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0009-DF1E-C

Abstract

Chimpanzees and orangutans are able to generate innovative behaviors to solve complicated physical problems. For example, when presented with an out-of-reach peanut at the bottom of a vertical tube (floating peanut task-FPT), some of them spontaneously spit water into the tube until the peanut floats to the top. Yet, it is unclear whether this innovative solution results from repeating those actions that bring the peanut incrementally closer to the top or from anticipating the solution before acting. In the current study, we addressed this question by presenting three naïve orangutans with an opaque version of the FPT that prevented them from obtaining visual information about the effect of their actions on the position of the peanut. One of the subjects solved the opaque FPT in the very first trial: he collected water from the faucet and poured it into the opaque tube repeatedly until the hitherto non-visible peanut reached the top. This provides evidence for the first time that orangutans can potentially solve the FPT without relying on sensorimotor learning, but to some extent by mentally representing the problem.